The Magic of Christmas (7 page)

But despite her obvious attractions, he'd managed to think of her only as a talented colleague.

Until a week ago.

Meeting her in the Christmas grotto had changed everything.

His life was no longer neatly and securely divided into work and home. She'd bridged the two and in doing so had forced a hole through the defences he'd built around himself. And it was nothing to do with the fact that Aggie had so innocently broadcast the details of his personal life and everything to do with his awareness of Lara as a woman.

With a soft curse, Christian sprawled in the chair behind his desk, ignoring the fact that his computer was telling him that he had seventy-two new messages in his inbox.

He couldn't stop thinking about her.

She was all energy and laughter but his attempts to dampen his libido by dismissing her as vacuous and lightweight were continually thwarted by the fact that she was, without doubt, the brightest nurse he'd ever worked with. She was always one step ahead of him and her experience in the ED smoothed every clinical situation.

She was vivacious, full of life and almost impossibly sexy and, if she'd come into his life at a different time…

But she hadn't, he reminded himself grimly, gritting his teeth and hitting a key on his computer so that he could view his emails.

And it didn't matter how bright she was or how attractive. It didn't matter how strongly his body reacted to her.

He didn't want any sort of relationship with a woman. It was far too soon.

The girls weren't ready.

And he wasn't ready, either.

* * *

The following day Lara was strapping a patient's ankle in the treatment room when Jane put her head round the door.

‘Have you seen Christian?'

‘Not since lunchtime.' Lara looked up. ‘Why?'

‘Because his daughter is in Reception, asking to see him.'

‘Which one?'

Jane stared at her. ‘How many does he have? How do you suddenly know so much about his children?'

‘He must have mentioned it,' Lara said casually. ‘I'll go and see to the daughter while you find Christian. I've finished here, anyway.' She handed the patient an information sheet. ‘Keep the leg up when you're sitting down. You can take some ibuprofen or paracetamol for the pain.'

She washed her hands thoroughly, wondering why one of Christian's girls had suddenly arrived in the emergency department. ‘Is she on her own?'

‘As far as I could see. I wonder if he's gone down to the chief exec's office or something?' Jane slid out of the room to continue her hunt for Christian and Lara hurried through to Reception.

Aggie sat there, looking forlorn. Her arm was bandaged and her face was covered in spots.

‘Oh, my goodness, what's happened to you?!' Lara swiftly entered the code that unlocked the door through to Reception and hurried over to the little girl. ‘Aggie. Do you remember me?'

‘You look like that fairy. But without the wings.'Aggie gave a faltering smile and Lara saw the remains of tears on her cheeks.

‘That's me. The fairy. My name's Lara. What's happened? Are you ill? How long have you had
spots?' She peered a little closer at Aggie's face and realised that, close up, the spots looked like nothing she'd ever seen before. ‘Er…Aggie, about these spots…'

‘I need to see Daddy.' Her voice was a soft whisper and Lara nodded.

‘Of course you do. But tell me what happened. Why is your wrist bandaged?' She looked at the loose, saggy bandage and knew immediately who had done the bandaging. ‘Did you fall?'

Aggie swung her legs. ‘Not exactly.'

‘And those spots…' Lara reached out a finger and rubbed at the spots. ‘Aggie, why have you been painting spots on yourself?'

‘Because I need to look ill,' Aggie blurted out. ‘Daddy said we weren't to bother him at the hospital unless one of us was ill, but I really,
really
need to talk to him. It's totally urgent and important.'

Lara stood up and held out her hand. ‘Come on. Come through and see our toys and I'll find your daddy. Where's Chloe?'

‘She's playing with a friend. I was at home with Nanny Bottle. But she was very thirsty so she
drank and drank and then her eyes went all funny and her voice sounded jumpy. And then she couldn't make my tea.'

‘Nanny Bottle?' Lara tapped in the code and opened the door. ‘Is she your new nanny?'

‘Yes. She's worse than Nanny TV,' Aggie confided gloomily. ‘At least Nanny TV was awake—when she wasn't asleep.'

‘Your new nanny is asleep?'

‘I expect she was tired from all that drinking. She sort of drank and drank and then swayed like this and hiccoughed a lot.' Aggie demonstrated. ‘And then her eyes went funny and her voice went jumpy. And she fell asleep.'

Drunk?

Lara glanced at her in horror as she led her through to Christian's office. ‘Don't worry about that now. You'll be safe here. This is your dad's office.'

‘I know. He brought me once so that I can imagine where he is if I miss him during the day.' Aggie settled confidently into the chair just as the door opened again and Christian strode in.

‘Aggie?'

‘Daddy.' There was a hitch in her voice and she shrank back slightly in the chair. ‘Promise you're not angry.'

‘What are you doing at the hospital? And what's happened to your arm?' He looked at the bandages and his eyes narrowed as he studied the spots. ‘Aggie—'

‘I tried to make them look real but the colour is wrong and I didn't know what to do,'Aggie burst out. ‘You told us not to bother you unless one of us was ill so I thought if I bandaged myself you wouldn't be angry because you'd think I was hurt.'

Christian took a deep breath and dropped onto his haunches, his eyes level with his daughter's. ‘I'm not angry with you, sweetheart. But I do want to know what you're doing here. Where's Mrs Birkin? She's supposed to be looking after you.'

Aggie curled her legs under her, rubbing her little shoes on Christian's chair. ‘She was thirsty. And now she's lying on the floor.'

‘Thirsty?' Christian stared at her for a moment and then his mouth hardened. ‘You mean she was drinking?
What
was she drinking?'

‘Something from a dark bottle. She must have
liked it because she drank
loads
. Then she started talking funny and lay down on the floor. I couldn't get her to talk and I was worried. I thought she'd had an accident.'

‘Drinking from a bottle?' His eyes burning with anger, Christian rose to his feet and looked at Lara. ‘I need to go home.'

‘Of course you do. I'm due to finish in five minutes. Why don't I come with you?' She didn't know what had prompted her to suggest it, and she braced herself for rejection.

He hesitated and then gave a swift nod. ‘That would be helpful. You can stay with the children while I sort out the nanny, if that's all right with you.'

‘Of course.'

At that moment Chloe came flying through the door. ‘Dad! Aggie's not at home and Mrs Birkin is—' Her face cleared as she saw her sister nestled into the chair. ‘Oh. Thank goodness. I got home from my friend's and there was no sign of them and Nanny Birkin was asleep.' She looked at Aggie. ‘How did you get to the hospital?'

‘I called that taxi number that's stuck to the board in the kitchen and told him it was urgent.'

Chloe blinked. ‘And where did you find money?'

Aggie shrank back in her chair, her eyes huge. ‘Your money-box?'

‘Quick thinking,' Christian said smoothly, grabbing his coat and lifting Aggie into his arms. ‘We're going home now. Lara is going to come with us.'

‘Will she wear her fairy costume? Can we play dressing-up?'

Lara noticed the grim set of Christian's mouth and knew how upset he was. ‘Dressing-up is my favourite game,' she said cheerfully. ‘Will you do my make-up?'

* * *

Christian leaned against the kitchen door with his eyes closed, willing his problems to magically disappear.

In the past two hours he'd sobered up the nanny, fired her and lodged a formal complaint with the agency. Now he just had to work out how to reorganise his life so that he could work and look after his daughters.

‘Christian?'

He opened his eyes to find Lara standing in front of him. She'd done such a good job of occupying the children, he'd forgotten that he wasn't alone in the house. ‘Thank you for keeping them out of the way while I dealt with that.' His eyes slid over her. She was wearing a tiara and there were two large scarlet streaks on her cheeks. ‘What happened to you?'

She grinned. ‘Aggie happened to me. We're playing princesses. Which involves lots of makeup. If you think this is bad, you should see what she did to Chloe. I'll say this for her, your elder daughter is very long-suffering.'

He eyed the red streaks on her face. ‘You look as though you need a maxillary facial surgeon.'

‘That's just the blusher she used. Apparently princesses always have rosy cheeks.' She glanced around her and he saw her looking at the boxes.

‘I was hoping that the nanny would help to unpack the last of the boxes,' he said, wondering why he was explaining himself to her.
What did it matter what she thought?
‘I've only done the important ones.'

‘You did Aggie's bedroom. It's so pretty. Like a fairy grotto.'

‘She loves everything pink, as I'm sure you noticed, and I wanted her to feel at home as quickly as possible. I should have done Chloe's, too, but she's older and…' He shrugged, wondering with a pang of guilt whether he'd been neglecting his elder daughter. ‘Chloe never complains.'

‘She's a sweet-natured girl.' Lara reached out and touched his arm, her expression concerned. ‘Are you all right? You haven't had the best day.'

Her touch seemed to connect with every nerve ending in his body and he tensed, battling with an astonishingly powerful desire to haul her against him and bring his mouth down on hers. He was entirely confident that a couple of hours naked with Lara would make his problems considerably less important.

But that wasn't an option.

Reminding himself that he was a father with responsibilities, one of which was not indulging his own fantasies, he took a step back from her, wishing he hadn't noticed the thickness of her lashes and the softness of her mouth.

A vision of her in her fairy costume sprang into his head and he ran a hand over the back of his neck and prowled across the kitchen, putting some distance between them. With a considerable effort, he turned his mind back to the reality of his life. ‘She was drunk, Lara.'

‘I know.'

He turned to face her, a surge of helpless anger engulfing his attempt at calm. ‘I left my children with a drunk.'

‘No, you didn't. You left your children with a nanny recommended by a reputable agency.' Lara's voice was steady. ‘If anyone is to blame, it's them.'

‘Maybe. I still feel responsible. It means more change and upheaval for the girls and they've already had enough. I won't be using that agency again, that's for sure. Which gives me a problem because none of the other agencies have anyone available right now. Apparently no one changes jobs three weeks from Christmas. Aggie's right. What we need around here is a miracle.'

Deeply worried about his children, he paced
across to the window and stared across the huge garden that stretched behind the house. Snow was fluttering down from a grey, wintry sky, settling on the grass like icing sugar, and the holly tree was crowded with bright red berries. The house was beautiful. It was just a shame that he hadn't had time to turn it into a home. ‘I need to get on the phone and call every agency in London. But I keep thinking that I don't want to leave them with anyone.'
That had never been what he wanted for his children.
‘If Aggie hadn't shown such common sense…' He broke off, still dealing with the enormity of what could have happened to his girls.

‘But she did. And that's reassuring, isn't it? Despite her age, she's obviously very sensible and practical. That must make you very proud of her. Of both of them. They're gorgeous children.'

‘And they deserve better than this. They've been through hell and they need stability.'

‘I have a solution. I should have thought of it a week ago when I first saw you in the grotto. I can do it.'

‘You can do what?'

‘Help you with the girls.'

For a moment Christian just stared at her, wondering if he'd heard her correctly. ‘You already work as a nurse in the busiest emergency department in the capital, and on the side you're a fairy. How many jobs does one woman need?'

‘I could do it, no problem. I'd just move in with you and then I'd be here in the mornings and the evenings.'

Move in?

Christian froze, his tension levels soaring. He was about to utter a curt rejection of her idea when she looked up at him and smiled. He felt himself instantly drawn into the warmth of that smile, even though the cynical side of him—
the side that was experienced with women
—was shouting a loud warning.

She was like a siren,
he thought,
drawing a man onto the rocks.

But even that knowledge didn't stop him noticing that her eyes were actually more violet than blue and that her blonde hair was still flicking up slightly at the ends, giving her appearance an elfin quality that was astonishingly appealing.

‘Christian?'She looking at him with amusement in her eyes and he suddenly remembered that he was supposed to be responding to her proposal.

‘No.'
He didn't need a sexy woman living in his house.
‘Definitely not.'

‘It would only be over the Christmas period. Why would you say no?' She looked slightly baffled, as if the possibility of rejection hadn't occurred to her. ‘I'm the answer to your prayers.'